Afghan forces take over responsibility for security from NATO nationwide

MILESTONE:NATO forces will continue to provide training, logistics and air support and emergency combat assistance, while Karzai presses for peace

AFP, KABUL

Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks to the audience at ceremony at the Afghan Military Academy marking the full security lead handover to Afghan forces, in Kabul, Afghanistan yesterday.

PHOTO: EPA

Afghan forces took control of security across the country yesterday, marking a major milestone as US-led combat troops prepare to withdraw after 12 years of fighting the Taliban.

Speaking at a military academy outside Kabul, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the police and army were ready to take on insurgents, but a bomb in the city underlined persistent instability.

Three civilians were killed in the attack, which targeted a prominent lawmaker as his convoy traveled to parliament just before the handover ceremony began.

“Our security and defense forces will now be in the lead,” Karzai told Afghan and NATO officials at the event, the timing and location of which had been kept secret due to fears of a militant attack.

“From here, all security responsibility and all security leadership will be taken by our brave forces,” he said.

Doubts remain over the ability of Afghan forces to beat the Taliban, and the NATO military coalition will retain an important function in logistics and air support, as well as in combat emergencies.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that by taking the lead in security, Afghan forces were completing a five-stage transition process that began in March 2011.

“They are doing so with remarkable resolve,” he said.

“Ten years ago, there were no Afghan national security forces ... now you have 350,000 Afghan troops and police, a formidable force,” he said. “We will continue to help Afghan troops in operations if needed, but we will no longer plan, execute or lead those operations, and by the end of 2014, our combat mission will be completed.”

Karzai used his speech to give a boost to peace efforts, saying that government envoys would travel to the Gulf state of Qatar to try to open negotiations with the Taliban.

“Our High Peace Council [HPC] will go to Qatar, they will talk to the Taliban,” the president said. “We hope that with the opening [of a Taliban office in Qatar] ... the peace talks between the HPC and the Taliban start as soon as possible.”

The handover of the last 95 districts from NATO to Afghan control includes areas in the south and east, where the Taliban have concentrated their bloody insurgency since 2001.

As Afghan soldiers and police take over the fight against the militants, who were ousted from power after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the US, the 100,000 NATO troops will focus on training and mentoring roles.

Recent attacks have demonstrated the Taliban’s ability to strike at Kabul as the country prepares for presidential elections next year and the NATO withdrawal by the end of next year.

“The reality is Afghan forces are not dreadful, but they’re probably not sufficiently capable to drive the war to a conclusion,” George Washington University international affairs professor Stephen Biddle said. “My guess is they will be able to maintain the stalemate, provided the US pays their bills.”

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